{"id":15628,"date":"2025-02-03T00:26:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T00:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hederav2stg.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/hbar-rate-limiter\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T18:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:36:14","slug":"hbar-rate-limiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hedera.com\/blog\/hbar-rate-limiter\/","title":{"rendered":"HBAR Rate Limiter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Introduction<\/h4>\n

As the Hedera ecosystem continues to grow, operators of the Hedera JSON-RPC Relay face new challenges, particularly in managing the costs associated with user transactions\u2014especially in public environments. Imagine this: you have allocated a daily, monthly, or yearly HBAR budget and want to ensure it isn\u2019t exceeded. Everything is running smoothly until certain users start submitting abnormally high-cost transactions. These transactions quickly deplete your HBAR resources, leaving less for other users and leading to an unfair distribution of the budget. <\/p>\n

To address this challenge, we have re-engineered our previous HBAR rate limiter. The earlier version simply tracked a single total limit over a specified period. In contrast, the new design introduces a customizable Tiered HBAR Rate Limiter<\/strong>, integrated into the relay, allowing for more granular control and flexibility in managing rate limits. This new feature empowers operators to take control of their spending by categorizing users into tiers with defined spending limits. <\/p>\n

In this blog post, we\u2019ll explore how this tiered approach works, why it matters, and how operators can use it to protect their financial resources while supporting the Hedera ecosystem. <\/p>\n

Understanding the Economic Model<\/h4>\n

Before diving into the functionality of the HBAR rate limiter, let\u2019s establish some context regarding the relay\u2019s economic model and how it compares to similar systems, such as Ethereum. <\/p>\n

The Role of the Hedera JSON-RPC Relay
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\"HBAR<\/figure>\n

The Hedera JSON-RPC Relay serves as a critical bridge, connecting EVM-based applications to the Hedera network. By translating Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) JSON-RPC calls into Hedera-compatible requests, the relay enables dApp developers to leverage Hedera\u2019s benefits seamlessly without modifying their existing codebases. These codebases are often built using third-party tools developed for the Ethereum network, such as Ethers.js and Web3.js. <\/p>\n

EVM Equivalence and Gas Costs<\/h4>\n

To maintain EVM equivalence, gas costs charged to users reflect the computational work required, similar to Ethereum. However, in addition to executing transactions within the EVM, certain operations require additional Hedera File Service (HFS) transactions to process large requests.<\/p>\n

For example, when deploying a smart contract with bytecode exceeding 5,120 bytes, the following operations must be performed:<\/p>\n